My Storage Method for my Die Cut Ephemera/Paper Die Cuts

First I want to say that I don't have everything in my books cut out, it is an ongoing project. But to give you a little background on me, I had a stroke almost 20 years ago and have one hand that doesn’t work well anymore.

When I found that I could still fussy cut, I bought the first Fairies book and started fussy cutting everything in the book, except the small images.

That is when I remembered that I could have my ScanNCut do a lot of the cutting for me – mainly the smaller images. That works well for the images that are on white backgrounds. If the image is on a background that has a pattern on it, like a light halo or the page has a light pattern on it, the ScanNCut can’t see just the image, and those I have to fussy cut.

When the Fairies in Bloom book came out, I started fussy cutting those as well. That was when I realized that there might be a problem with fussy cutting everything because now, I have fairies, flowers, and other images.

So, I bought some 8.75x6.25-inch clear bins at the Dollar Tree – I labeled the bins and sorted the images I already fussy cut into the bins.

Within those bins, I have snack size baggies that hold things like small images under 2 inches tall, another with images between 2 and 4 inches tall, etc. This makes it easier for me to find what I want quickly.

But then I needed to do something with the background images. Solution for the backgrounds at first was clear document envelopes.

As time went on and more books came out; I was getting frustrated with going through the books to find the images I wanted. I had to figure out a new way to do things.

Now, when I got a new book, I made a new clear document envelope (or envelopes) take the book apart and sort the pages into the envelopes. I put the main images – houses, flowers, etc into one envelope and sorted by theme and the other images into envelopes labeled by those types of images. After that, say for instance I needed a flower that wasn’t already fussy cut, I could pull out the “flowers” pocket and go through that to find what I want.

I bought 2 clear file boxes – one for backgrounds and one for the images.

I need things to be visible and easily accessible so I can find what I want easily, so this works for me. I wasn’t always this way, but after I had my stroke (almost 20 years ago) I found that I needed things in my studio organized so that they are easy to find.

UPDATE, AUGUST 2025:

By August 2025, I knew that I had to find a better way to find the images rather than having two file boxes sitting on top of a short bookcase. So, I bought a small rolling handing folder file cabinet. The top drawer holds the folders of images to be cut out, sorted by theme and the bottom holds all my background images.

As of August 2025, I reorganized and re-labeled all the bins and color coded them to make it easier for me to see the bins I use most.

Currently, I have over 40 clear bins and over 40 hanging file folders. I am sure those numbers are only going to get bigger as Marta releases more books.

Suggestions and comments are always welcome.
See you soon!
Judy

Flowers & Butterflies Multi-Media Piece

This this my first true Mixed Media piece. Created the background and added the texture with modeling paste. Then painted with acrylic paints and Glimmer Mist Sprays - I didn't like the result.

So, I wiped it all off (rubbing alcohol works great for getting most of the acrylic paint off, even when dry), and started again. Took painting it 3 times before I liked it.

Then added the painted swirly leaf chipboard, the flowers, and the saying. The upper right corner looked empty, so I added the 3D butterfly.

Detailed Photos

Suggestions and comments are always welcome.
See you soon!
Judy

Creativity Multi Media Piece

This my take on "Collage in Squares" as taught by Marta at Maremi Small Art Marta at Maremi Small Art. She used squares, but I decidfed to use circles.

This was made on a Canvas panel, with circles cut from assorted scrapbook papers.

I torn apart a sheet of Stamperia Decoupage Imagine LOVE ART Rice Paper to fit in the spaces between the circles.

Lastly, I shaded everything and added some Quote chips from the Tim Holtz - Advantus Quote Chips Idea-Olo Theories set.

Detailed Photos

Suggestions and comments are always welcome.
See you soon!
Judy

What is luck?

Luck, there is all sorts of luck, good and bad. I think, for the most part, we create our own luck, good or bad, by how we approach life.

Sometimes luck that at first seems bad, in the end turned out to be good luck. That is how I look at my stroke – It was bad luck that I had the stroke, but in the end it changed my life in so many positive ways.

Mike and I quit smoking the day I had the stroke, we had talked about wanting to quit, but we kept putting it off. Life said “You will quit NOW”. Who can argue with that?

It brought my family closer together – from my brothers to the extended family, we are closer now. It brought all the kids closer to each other and I think closer to me too. Heck, even Helen has come a bit closer to me too.

I think that the biggest positive change is how it brought Mike & me closer. I mean we were close, but we were sort of plodding along with no goals ahead of us. Now we have bought a house again, we are making plans for making improvements to it, and generally looking forward.

I’ve come to know that my “email buddies” are very important to me. They are one the reasons that the first thing I wanted to be able to do is use the computer again. Granted, I not only needed to learn to use the computer again, I had to re-learn where the specific letters were – nothing like having to hunt & peck & try to spell at the same time.

I now truly realize how much my “studio” and my “crafty stuff” means to me too. I thought that I lost the ability to create scrapbooks, and that really depressed me because I had not finished my Dad’s memorial album. But again, I wanted to get back my crafts, and a year after the stroke I finished the album and presented it to my Mom & the rest of the family.

I’ve learned just how strong and stubborn I am, how determined I can be to get my life back as close to what it was. Things have changed, I have changed. Some of the things that were important to me before my stroke have become less important. I didn’t think that having a cat and being responsible for it was important, now I have a furry friend that brightens up my day.

So Luck – it is what you make it to be, what you want it to be. Good, bad or indifferent, it exists and it affects our lives.

Suggestions and comments are always welcome.
See you soon!
Judy